Memories, take me away
by solstjerne
Summary: Harry approaches Remus one evening with a question about Sirius. This leads to a story about Sirius' life at and post Hogwarts and his relationship with Reilly Roberts. Drama, humour, romance and tragegy. LE/JP also included.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I have been using some of the same characters throughout my recent one shots. After that I thought I might as well use these characters in a full story about the Marauders Era. Lily and James shipper of course – a long with a SB/OC

I posted something similar to this first chapter a while ago as a one shot and reviews told me it was left too unfinished – so I decided to make a whole story of it ;). I've got this all planned out - it will be a 6 chapter story taking place at Hogwarts and post-Hogwarts.

Enjoy this first one…

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Remus Lupin was looking into the flames in the fireplace at number 12 Grimmauld Place. The light from the flames danced across his aging face. His serious expression watched the flames as if they were telling him something. It was only natural for him to be so serious. It had been almost a month after the evil Lord Voldemort had regained his full strength. There was need for worrying in times like these – who knew what he was up to this very moment?

"Lupin?" A voice suddenly asked behind him. Remus did not turn around or jump in surprise.

"I thought you had gone to bed already, Harry," Remus spoke quietly without turning his head away from the flames.

"I had," Harry answered. The almost fifteen year old boy walked over to Remus and sat down next to him on the floor. "I couldn't sleep." Remus only nodded. The two of them sat in silence for a while, just watching the flames, before Harry spoke again. "I couldn't sleep because I was thinking. I was wondering if Sirius ever dated anyone."

Remus turned his head for the first time through the conversation. A smile slowly formed across his dry lips. "Oh I think he did his fair share of dating," Remus replied with a chuckle. "Perhaps more than his fair share."

"Right," Harry said thoughtfully. Once again, he hesitated before continuing, "Remember how you once told me that my father used to date a lot as well?" Remus nodded, still facing Harry. "Well he eventually found my mother, so I was wondering if Sirius ever found that… special someone."

Remus turned his head again to face the fire. The serious expression suddenly reappeared on his face. He hesitated before answering. "Have you talked to Sirius about this?" A wave of memories crashed over him.

"No," Harry answered honestly, "I did want to ask a question that might upset him." He had his head turned, his eyes burning into Remus' neck.

Remus let out a sigh that was slightly louder than what he had intended. "There was one," he eventually spoke.

"Who?" A new voice asked. Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley suddenly came into the living room. Hermione was the one speaking. The three of them sat down on the floor as well and looked at Remus, curiously waiting for him to answer. "Sorry if we're interfering."

"That's all right," Remus answered ignoring her first question. He was hoping someone would change the subject quickly. "What are you all doing out of bed?"

"Are you going to continue the story?" Ginny asked, ignoring Remus' question and crushing all hope of avoiding the subject. "Who was it?"

"Her name…" Yet another voice spoke. Sirius Black appeared from the kitchen and joined the others in the living room. "Was Reilly Cope Roberts, if you must know." He sat down on the floor next to Remus and let out sigh. Remus glanced at Sirius, who slowly nodded. He knew what Remus was thinking. "I guess I'm the one, who should be telling the story." Remus turned around to face the children, who were sitting in a semi-circle around Sirius and him.

"Great," Ron said with a grin.

"Shut up, Ron," Ginny hissed. "Only if you want to, Sirius." She smiled calmly at him

Sirius smiled sadly in return. "That's quite all right. I had a feeling I would have to talk about this sooner or later anyway."

"So how did you meet?" Hermione asked excited. "I suppose it must have been a very romantic setting."

"I wouldn't say that," Sirius chuckled. "You see, we went to school together. Actually, she was best friends with your mother, Harry." Harry looked surprised at first, but then smiled. "She, Lily and Maya Cunningham were always together. Even though they were in our year we hardly saw them. We talked to them on rare occasions like in classrooms or when James hopelessly tried to ask Lily out in fifth and sixth year."

"Why didn't you see them?" Hermione asked, not wanting to miss a single detail.

"Sirius would be busy pulling a prank or showing off in front of girls," Remus asked simply.

"Hey!" Sirius said defensively. "That wasn't all I did, Moony!"

"No," Remus said. "But you didn't spend your time in the library like Reilly, Lily and Maya." Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione laughed at this, but Sirius only smiled a little.

"I'm the one telling the story!… anyway it must have been around March 1977, our sixth year. The Quidditch season was well on the way, Slytherin leading with Hufflepuff in second. We hadn't played our best matches that year, and just before our match against Slytherin our third chaser fell ill.

"Oh did you win?" Ron asked eagerly.

"The following year we did," Sirius answered with a satisfied grin. "But that is a different story. We had had several tryouts for weeks with no luck at all. I don't know the story behind why this happened – I like to believe it was an all girls' slumber party with pillow fights and truth and dare -" he grinned and glanced at Remus, who rolled his eyes and desperately tried to hide the smile on his lips, "but somehow Maya convinced Reilly to try out."

"As a dare?" Ginny asked with raised eyebrows.

"No way!" Ron said out loud. "She would never make the team."

Remus and Sirius laughed. "That was what I thought when she showed up for tryouts," Sirius said.

**---- ****March 1977 ----**

A girl with curly brown hair tied in a ponytail and bright blue eyes was standing on the Quidditch pitch looking around at the other Gryffindor students. Sirius Black and James Potter were walking towards her and the other student from the other side of the pitch. "This is silly, Prongs," Sirius complained. "We have a game in four days. Even with daily practice, we can't teach a new recruit all of our plays."

"George Henderson is in the Hospital Wing with a broken arm, Padfoot. He already told Michael he won't be returning to Quidditch this season. Apparently he wants to focus on his O.W.L.S this year." James explained calmly. "As a captain, Mike doesn't really have a choice. We need a third chaser."

Sirius let out a sigh. He suddenly noticed the girl standing in front of him. "Well well well," he said with a smirk. "Who would have known you knew the way to the Quidditch pitch, Roberts?" Reilly raised her eyebrows and glanced at Sirius. She did not answer his question. "Have you been on a broom since first year?" he continued asking her.

Reilly turned her full attention to Sirius this time. She took a few steps towards him and smiled innocently. "Care to bet on that, Mr. Black?" she asked.

Sirius sent her one of his infamous grins. "Good luck."

"Thank you," she said untouched by the grin. "But I'll be quite all right." With that she walked away from Sirius and joined the other students. Michael Easton had just called them together and one by one he sent them flying in the air.

A few of the third years had problems getting into the air. James and Sirius shared a tired look before Michael sent the fourth years into the air. Finally, they had a game going. Michael had asked his team to remain on the ground, since so many had turned up and wanted to join the team. The teams were not fair at all. One team was dominating the other team.

"Who's that girl?" one of the beaters on the ground asked. He pointed straight into the air.

"She's quite good," Michael said and held up a hand to his forehead to block the sun. This way he was able to get a closer look. "She's fast and her throws are excellent."

Sirius took a closer look. As the other two chasers, James and he would have to be able to work with whoever was picked. He had a feeling she was the one. He put his hand in the middle of his forehead to block out the sun, and maybe identify her. He was very surprised when he did. "That's Roberts," he said quietly.

"I guess we found our new chaser," Michael said satisfied. "T'is about time."

The tryouts ended and everyone headed back to the castle. "Roberts!" Sirius called after Reilly. She turned around. "Good flying," he continued once he caught up with her.

"Thank you," Reilly said with a smile. "You sound surprised."

"Honestly I am," Sirius answered. "Welcome on the team – keep flying like that and you'll fit in perfectly."

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"How did she do then?" Hermione asked.

"She scored 120 points the following game," Sirius said. Harry and Ron looked at each other wide-eyed. Sirius nodded with a wide grin, remembering the look on his own face after that match. "She surprised everyone."

"So what happened afterwards?" Hermione asked wanting to get off the Quidditch subject. "Did you and Reilly go out?"

"Of course!" Sirius said with a grin suddenly feeling like he was back in the sixteen year old's shoes.

"So you didn't date her?" Harry asked puzzled.

"Sure I did," he grinned again. "No one can stand the charm of Sirius Black."

"Just tell the story as it is or I will," Remus said tiredly. He suddenly remembered what had happened afterwards. "They didn't go out until several months after," he chuckled, "an unusually slow reaction of the charm of Sirius Black." The teenagers shared a confused look as Sirius rolled his eyes but kept quiet. Remus moved his feet into a more comfortable position and straightened his tired back. "In the following month Sirius and Reilly exchanged more words than they had in the previous 5 years, yet he didn't try to kiss her or ask her out."

"Why?" Ron blurted out. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs and Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I wasn't interested in her in that way," Sirius answered.

Remus laughed out loud at that answer. "Ha! Liar! You were just too late," he looked back at the teenagers and explained, "you see, Michael Easton had asked Reilly on a date to Hogsmeade two weeks after the before mentioned Quidditch match – the two of them were kind of an item for about three months. No one really noticed them breaking up, before Easton snogged Priscilla Clark in front of everyone at the final feast in June. Reilly was furious."

"A hell of a punch she gave him," Sirius laughed at the memory. Harry, Ron and Remus joined in on the laugh.

"So did you comfort her afterwards and then started dating?" Ginny asked. Remus could tell she was hoping for every possible romantic setting.

"Not exactly," Sirius replied, "I hate to admit it, but I was a typical teenage boy at the time. Exams were done and I was anxious for school to finish. The summer was all planned – James and I would play Quidditch all summer as well as plan some pranks with Remus and Peter when they came to visit us." He glanced knowingly at Remus. "I didn't see Reilly again before we were back on the Hogwarts Express."

"Boys…" Hermione sighed.

"Just wait," Sirius said with a smile. "Reilly had changed that summer – up until now, she had worn her hair in a pony tail every day, but had now decided to let it hang loose. Point is; she looked amazing."

"It was rather small changes," Remus added. "But Sirius wouldn't shut up about her for the next two weeks whenever he was alone with Peter, James and I." He smiled at Sirius, who looked at the floor, trying to hide a smile.

"Why didn't you just talk to her?" Ron asked.

"Right," Sirius said with a laugh. "When was the last time you did that, Ron?" Ron's face turned red, and now it was his turn to look at the floor. "You have to remember that I was only seventeen – and to be honest I had never had problems talking to a girl, but this was different. I just didn't realize that at the time." He let out a quick sigh before continuing. "The right moment never came up. Sure, I saw her in classes and at Quidditch practice, but girls always seem to travel in packs, so it was impossible to talk to her when she was alone." Ron and Harry looked at each other and nodded slowly. Hermione and Ginny were too caught up in the story to notice, but Remus noticed and smiled, remembering what it was like to be a teenage boy.

"How did you do it then?" Harry asked.

"We had a few problems before anything happened…" Four tired but interested gazes stared back at him, so with a sigh he continued, "Right, you want to know how it happened?," They all nodded. Hermione and Ginny leaned forward to catch every word. "It was October and time for the first Hogsmeade trip. It was an incredibly cold day – the winter winds had already started, but that couldn't stop any of us from going…"

**----- October 1977 ----**

"I never thought I would see the day where Lily Evans ditches her best friend to go on a date with James Potter," Reilly said as she and Lily were walking down the main street of Hogsmeade. The two girls pulled their red and gold scarf higher up as another wind blew past them, leaving icy trails on their skin.

"Who said I would leave you?" Lily asked innocently.

"I give you fifteen minutes tops," Reilly said. "Come on, Lils, you know you want to go somewhere more private with James – just the two of you."

Lily opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Reilly tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows. "You wouldn't mind, would you?" Lily asked slightly embarrassed.

"Not at all," Reilly laughed. The two of them walked into Honeydukes Sweetshop where Reilly noticed four familiar faces. "Speaking of the devil," she said with a smirk and walked inside. Lily followed her.

"Lily," James said excitedly and walked over to Lily. She smiled widely as he took her hand in his.

"Honeydukes eh, Pettigrew?" Reilly said with a bright smile and raised eyebrows.

"You're good, Roberts," Peter said and handed her a sickle.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir," Reilly said with yet another smile.

"What's going on?" Remus asked as he walked over to them. Sirius was right behind him with a bag of sweets in his hand.

"I kind of made a bet with Roberts here," Peter explained. "She figured the first place we would go would be Honeydukes, but I thought we would go to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer."

Remus and James laughed. James whispered something in Lily's ear and soon after the two of them had left the store. "I better get going," Remus said "I have to get… something from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. Care to join me, Wormtail?" Peter looked extremely confused. "Just come," Remus said impatiently. With that he left the store and Peter followed him with a shrug.

Sirius looked around the shop and realized that Reilly and he were the only ones left in the store besides the owner. He knew it was only a matter of seconds before the place would be swamped with Hogwarts students. An awkward silence took over the place. "So," Sirius finally said.

"So," Reilly repeated.

"Great friends we have, huh?"

"The best," Reilly said sarcastically with a small laugh. "What are you up to?"

"Me? I'm not sure – but a drink would be nice," Sirius answered. He hesitated a second before asking, "Want to join me?"

This time it was Reilly's turn to hesitate, as if she was waiting for something else to happen. "Sure," she finally said with a reassuring smile. "Why not?" Sirius returned the smile.

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"I knew something romantic would happen," Hermione said with a smile.

Ginny smiled as well. "Do continue," she said.

"Well," Sirius continued. "Since Remus and Peter had left us…" he paused the story and turned to Remus, "thanks for that, by the way." Remus smiled quickly and waited for him to continue the story. "- and both Lily and James were out on dates, and Maya had met a seventh year Ravenclaw earlier that day, so she was out on a date too, I took Reilly to Madam Puddifoot's. It wasn't supposed to be like a date, but both the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head were full."

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"Here you go," Sirius said with a smile as he came down to the table Reilly had picked out. He placed a mug with hot tea in front of her, before sitting down on the opposite side of the small table.

"Thank you," Reilly said with a smile and carefully took a sip of the tea. There was an awkward silence for a few, long minutes. Reilly held the tea mug tightly in her hands to warm them up. "Sirius can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly.

"So I'm Sirius now?" Sirius asked with a grin, the two of them had never been on first name terms before. When he saw Reilly raise her eyebrows he continued quickly, "Shoot."

"Is this really your idea of a fun time in Hogsmeade? I mean wouldn't it be more fun to be buying all the sweets in Honeydukes with your friends rather than drinking tea with me?"

'_No!'_ his mind thought "I think that is really my decision to make," Sirius said thoughtfully_. _"I already bought sweets in Honeydukes, so I don't mind spending my afternoon with you. We are team mates after all, right?"

Reilly smiled and lifted her mug. "I'll drink to that."

"Cheers."

They stayed in the small tea shop for an hour. The conversation from then on flew without any awkward moments and was only interrupted when they paused to laugh. Finally they stood up and walked out onto the streets. The wind picked up again and slowly flakes of snow started falling from the grey sky. "We have about an hour until we have to get back," Sirius said. "There's something I want to show you."

Reilly nodded and followed him. The two of them walked side by side away from the main street in Hogsmeade. They soon reached the outskirts of the small village. "Wow," Reilly said as she realized what Sirius wanted her to see. "The Shrieking Shack. I always thought that was just a myth."

"You've never seen it before?" Sirius asked and walked up to the fence.

"Never," Reilly answered and followed him. "I can understand why people think the place is haunted." She suddenly felt a rush of cold wind all over her body. She wrapped her arms around her body to stay warm but couldn't seem to regain the heat.

Sirius took a step back to stand behind her. He hesitated but seeing her freeze like that made him forget why he had been hesitating. He took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her. At first she was surprised but she soon gave in and leaned against his chest, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. "They say it is the most haunted house in Britain," Sirius whispered in her ear. "I say, it is the most exciting." The soft scent of her hair reached his nostrils, and he tightened his grip around her softly.

"You've been there?" Reilly asked.

"Of course."

Reilly turned in his arms and looked up at him. Snowflakes had found their spots at the tip of her hazel hair and didn't seem to want to come off. "Will you take me there some time?" She asked him.

He eyed her shortly then grinned widely. "Are you sure?" she nodded slowly. "Then I better do that. Some time." The second silence between them that day suddenly hit. Their eyes locked and none of them knew what to say. Finally, Sirius spoke up again, "Listen Reilly," he said nervously. He swallowed hard and looked into her eyes. "I've been an idiot the past few weeks. I was just so convinced that all that was said was true, so I chose to ignore what people that I trust were telling me."

"Are you apologizing?" Reilly asked without taking a step back and out of his embrace.

"Something like that," Sirius answered honestly. "And that's not something I do often. There's just something about you, Ray…"

"Sirius?" Reilly interrupted but Sirius continued without listening to her.

"You're fun to be around, you're bright, you aren't afraid to visit the Shrieking Shack…"

"Sirius!"

"You even made a bet with Peter as if it was the most normal thing for a girl to do, and you -"

Sirius wanted to continue but stopped as Reilly pressed her lips against his. He was used to him being the one to kiss the girl first, but here she was kissing him before he had even tried to kiss her. It didn't take him long to kiss her back though. He deepened the kiss and pulled her closer. He felt her folding her arms around his neck and pull his face down to her.  
They eventually pulled apart to catch their breath. Reilly smiled confidently and took a step back, forcing Sirius to break the embrace. "You didn't let me get to the part about how beautiful you are," he whispered and placed his forehead against hers.

She giggled, "You'll just have to give me a speech on that later." She tip-toed and placed a quick but sweet kiss on his lips. "We should be getting back," she said and took a step back, forcing Sirius to break the embrace. Sirius nodded slowly, not wanting to leave. The two of them walked back to Hogsmeade in silence –both thinking about what had just happen. For once, no words were needed.

"There you are!" Lily said with a smile as she saw Reilly.

Reilly returned the smile as Lily walked over to her. Sirius speeded up and joined Peter, Remus and James, who were walking in front of the girls. "How was your day?" he asked them.

"Quite good," James said with a grin. Remus and Peter nodded with a smile. "Yours?"

"Oh," Sirius answered and turned his head. He sent Reilly a smile, which she returned. "It was great."

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"We officially started dating a week after," Sirius concluded the story.

"Why were you calling her 'Ray'?" Ron asked.

""Why were you calling her 'Ray'?"" Ginny asked angrily in disbelief. "That's not the question we need an answer to first!" She turned to Sirius, "What happened two weeks earlier? What made you apologize?"

Sirius chose to answer the less complicated question first, "'Ray' was a nickname her family had always called her. Something about her not being able to say 'Reilly' when she was a toddler, so she called herself 'Ray'. Her brother was in his seventh year when we started at Hogwarts, and after he left, her closest friends continued to call her by her nickname. That time in Hogsmeade was probably the first time I used it."

"And the other story?" Ginny asked again.

Sirius smiled sadly. "It's a long story really."

"Please tell," Hermione begged. "She sounds really nice, Sirius."

"Yeah…" Sirius said lost in his own thoughts. "If I remember the details right, you have to know the story from the beginning." Hermione and Ginny shared an excited look.

"But that really is another story," Remus continued for him. "It's time for bed." The four teenagers looked dissatisfied. After a few complaints they slowly made their way back upstairs. "Are you all right?" Remus asked as soon as he had heard the bedroom doors shut.

"I'm fine," Sirius said with a nod. "I miss her, Moony." Remus nodded understandingly, after that recollection he couldn't help but miss her too. He stood up, squeezed Sirius' shoulder, bid him goodnight and walked upstairs as well, leaving him by the dying fire – alone with his thoughts and memories.

A/N: DONE! Hope you liked it ;D


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning, Remus Lupin walked slowly down the stairs. He had slept three hours that night, which wasn't unusual for him these days. The sun had not yet risen outside the small windows, as he took yet another step down the narrow staircase. The further he walked down, the louder the noises from the kitchen got. Who in the world would be up at this hour as well?

He drew his wand from inside his robe and held it tightly in his hand. He reached the bottom of the stairs and slowly crept around the corner so he could see into the kitchen. "Merlin!" he burst out when he realised who made the noises. "Tonks?! What are you doing?"

The young woman jumped and spun around quickly. Once she saw Remus she smiled widely. "I wanted to surprise you," she said sweetly and took a step to the side. Behind her was a plate complete with everything an English man could desire for breakfast. "Sit, sit."

Remus wasn't sure what else to do, so he did what he was told. She quickly walked over to him and placed the plate in front of him. "For you," she said. He noticed then that her hair was unusually bright pink this morning. Wasn't pink her favourite shade?

"Thanks I guess," Remus replied honestly feeling a bit confused, although the smile on Tonks' face made him not question it any further. She took a seat across from him and, with a bright smile, watched him take his first bite. He had to admit it was the best breakfast he had had in a really long time, which made him realise that he had lost weight in the past few months. He looked at Tonks, who still looked just as excited as before. He quickly took another bite.

Another tall man entered the kitchen. "Breakfast," Sirius said with great delight.

"Sorry, Sirius," Tonks said without getting up. "I'm afraid I only made breakfast for Remus."

"Well, well, well," Sirius said slowly and took a seat. "Favourism, don't ya think?"

"It's called _favouritism_"

"So you admit it? Blood's thicker than water, dear cousin, remember that."

"Are you done with the lecture?" Tonks said angrily as her hair changed it's colour to fire red for a few seconds. "I didn't think you'd be up this early." She still remained seated.

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius said. He stood up and walked over to the fridge. "Well I'm making pancakes for everyone. Except you, Nymphadora."

Remus swallowed the piece of sausage he had been chewing on. "Real' mature, Padfoot." Sirius glared at him, but didn't say anything. He continued his silent treatment as he waved his wand around, and the pancakes slowly started building up on the plate he had put out.

Before they knew it, four teenagers were sitting at the table.

"It's six in the morning!" Remus said as he finished the last of his breakfast. "I thought holidays were all about sleeping till noon." He looked at Harry, who seemed to agree.

Ron looked just as tired. He opened his mouth to say something, but the only words that came out clear were "smell of pancakes." Sirius grinned and placed the, now, tower of pancakes on the table in front of the teenagers. Plates flew from the shelves and neatly placed themselves in front of each of them. Sirius took a seat and immediately dug in.

"Actually," Hermione said as she let Harry and Ron take some pancakes first. "We wanted to get up early to hear more about your story."

Sirius suddenly started coughing and choking on the piece of food that was now in his mouth.

"But we finished that yesterday!"

"Not all of it, Sirius!" Hermione insisted. "You never told us what happened before you and Reilly actually got together, or what happened with your relationship further on."

"It's a bit early for that, don't ya think?" Sirius said with a yawn. He looked at Ron and Harry, who tried very hard not to look as if they agreed.

"Sirius," Ginny pressed on with as much enthusiasm as Hermione, "we have 10 days before we have to return to Hogwarts, and we can't go back, not knowing what happened!"

Sirius sighed and stuck his fork in yet another pancake, "that makes no sense to me whatsoever." He stuck a piece of the pancake in his mouth, but chewed much slower than previously. He stared blankly into the air in front of him, not focussing on anything, lost in thought. He continued chewing on the same piece for a long time, something he normally never did.

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other with a sigh and started their own breakfast. Harry's expression turned into worry, but his tiredness still shined through.

Remus glanced at Tonks, who looked just as worried as Harry, when Sirius stood up and excused himself. The six people he left behind stopped eating and looked at Sirius plate – two pancakes were still on it.

Silence hung heavily over the room before Hermione finally spoke up. "Lupin, you don't think we upset him, do you?" Her guilt was clear in her expression and voice.

Remus smiled wearily. "He has had a long time to think about this, Hermione, but this is probably the first time he has had to tell the story out loud. Before Azkaban, everyone knew what happened, some even knew Reilly personally, so he never had to talk about it because… well, we were there. Now that he is out, some of them are still there… and then there're you." The three remaining teenagers now shared the same guilty look as Hermione. Mechanically, he glanced to Tonks for help.

"I can understand why you want to hear about her," Tonks said with a more hopeful tone of voice. "To be honest, I never heard much about it either. If I know Sirius right, he will come around… just give him a few minutes."

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence. Remus glanced out through the dirty windows and noticed the rain falling heavily outside – it looked like it wasn't going to clear up anytime soon. He thanked Tonks for the lovely breakfast before going back upstairs. He stopped on the staircase and wondered what this day had in store for him. At the moment he had no mission for the Order. Sure, there was plenty to do, but frankly, he wasn't sure where to start.

A heat from the sitting room hit his face and broke his thoughts. Sirius was sitting inside, staring into the fire just as Remus had done the night before. Remus walked into the room and sat down on the couch behind Sirius. None of them said anything for a while; however, Remus was sure Sirius knew he was in the room.

"I knew I would have to talk about it," Sirius suddenly spoke.

"Maybe it's good to get it out," Remus said. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Padfoot."

"Ashamed, Remus?" Sirius turned around to face him. "Guilty is the word! Everything... everything that happened was my fault. If she had never met me, she would have-"

"- been involved in the war in another way," Remus finished for him. Sirius looked slightly defeated but didn't turn away from him or storm out of the room. "Sirius, you can't predict someone's fate anymore that the next man." Sirius sighed but did not argue. "They'll come back and ask you to continue the story – and it's probably good for you. Tell them about the good times we had with Reilly and how your relationship changed you for the better, because, let's face it, that did happen."

Sirius let out a small laugh. "Fine," he replied. "I'm not saying it will be easy but I'll give it a try."

"I'll back you up if you need me to – and do the occasional clean up, when you make yourself shine too much."

"Well, I do set the standard for perfection," Sirius said while trying to hide a grin. Remus was quite happy to see him smile again.

As predicted, Hermione and Ginny were not going to back down easily. The zoomed around after Remus most of the morning, trying to get a green light from him to start questioning Sirius. He finally managed to make an excuse to leave the house. Not sure where else to go, he spent the day in Diagon Alley trying to stay dry.

However, it was only safe for him to stay in one place for so long. He decided to return to Grimmauld Place just after dinner. Bright lights greeted him in the corridor and familiar voices sounded from the kitchen. He followed the voices and was soon able to hear them clearly, "Alright, alright," Sirius said. He looked up when Remus entered the kitchen. "Moony, they finally managed to corner me." Remus smiled slightly and took a seat next to Ron. Hermione was sitting on his right side, and Harry and Ginny across the table. All eyes were full of expectation and facing Sirius, who was sitting at the head of the table. Mrs. Weasley silently placed a plate of leftovers in front of Remus before returning to clean the plates by the sink. Remus guessed that Arthur was at work, Tonks had left and the twins off pulling a prank somewhere. "I don't even remember where we left off," Sirius continued.

"You were on a date with Reilly in Hogsmeade, but apparently something had happened between the two of you some time earlier," Ginny happily reminded him.

"Right, well remember I can only tell one side of the story…"

**----- ****Late September 1977 ----**

"No luck with Walker then?" Peter Pettigrew asked Sirius one afternoon in the Gryffindor common room. The two boys had their Charms books out and open on the table, and several pieces of parchment and quill lying next to it, but little work seemed to be getting done.

Sirius yawned and leaned back in his chair. "Nah," he answered and placed his hands behind his head. "That girl talks too much."

The portrait suddenly swung open and two laughing girls walked into the chamber. Sirius immediately took his hands down and straightened himself in the chair. He leaned over the table, quickly turned some pages in his book and pretending to be reading. None of the words on the page seemed to reach his brain as he kept his attention on the girls' conversation.

"Quidditch practise at seven o'clock, right Sirius?" One of the girls suddenly asked him.

"Huh?" Sirius said absentminded and looked up. "Oh yeah. Sorry Reilly, I was just working on our Charms essay for next Monday."

"No worries," Reilly said with a smile and glanced at the second girl, who was trying to hold back a laugh. "I'll see you then. We better start as well, Lily." She smiled again, turned and walked away.

Lily followed her but turned around just before following Reilly up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. "Oh Black?" She said. Sirius looked up again. "You might want to turn a few pages. We handed in the essay on Aquamenti two weeks ago – we're studying the Protean Charm at the moment."

Before he could answer, she had started climbing the stairs as well. He was sure he could hear Reilly giggle at the top of the stairs. He still wasn't sure what Lily was talking about, until he looked back down at the open book and finally took in the words on the right page:

_AQUAMENTI (AH-gwa-MENT-tee) –__ Charm that conjures a fountain or jet of clear water from the wand. "Aqua" comes from Spanish and Portuguese meaning water (as well as Latin) and "mentis" means…_

He closed the book angrily and ignored the laughter coming from Peter. "Smooth, Padfoot," Peter said between laughs. "Are you ever going to ask her out?"

"What's the point? She's best friend with Lily Evans, who has been rejecting a Marauder from year one." he was referring to James Potter's countless attempts of asking Lily out. He had finally given up at the beginning of this year though it was obvious he still had a huge crush on her.

"Since when do you give up?" Peter asked. "Besides, she called you 'Sirius'."

"So?"

"So, she hasn't been calling the rest of us by our first name. As late as this morning she called me 'Pettigrew' in Potions class."

------------

"Do you want to hear the story, or not?" Sirius asked annoyed looking at Harry and Ron, who were both hugging their stomachs, while holding on to the table in order not to fall over and roaring with laughter. Remus looked away from Sirius and did his best to suppress his own laugh.

"Sor-sorry," Harry said and wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath – it helped him to stop laughing, but he was still had a broad smile on his face. "Continue…"

"Alright, so I made a _tiny_ mistake," Sirius continued, ignoring Ron. "I made my way down to the Quidditch pitch at six that evening. I was an hour early – something team members normally weren't. However, I found James and Reilly there. They were sitting on the other side of the pitch, both laughing. I don't know why I did it, but I quickly returned to the castle without them noticing I had ever been there."

He paused for a second and seemed to be replaying the scene in his head. Remus remained silent and waited for Sirius to carry on with the story.

"I returned an hour later." Sirius continued. "When practiced finished, Reilly stayed behind to help James tidy up and the two of them walked back to the Gryffindor common room together. It was only a matter of a few hours before everyone in the castle was under the impression that they were dating."

"Peeves," Remus explained the four questionable faces staring at Sirius. Harry nodded understandingly.

"I avoided James the next four days. We didn't speak until late the following Saturday – the day of our first Quidditch match that year. We were playing a difficult match against Ravenclaw, but 50 minutes into the game, a hard bludger hit Reilly in the head and she fell off her broom. I wanted to fly down and help her straight away, but we had to play our best if we had wanted any chance of winning with one player down. Fortunately, our seeker caught the snitch a quarter of an hour later…"

-----------------

The teenage Sirius finally managed to escape the cheering crowd and hurried towards the castle. He followed the corridors left and right and climbed staircases until he reached the hospital wing. The doors were closed into the infirmary. A boy was sitting outside in the deserted corridor still in his Quidditch robes. Sirius recognised him immediately as his best friend.

Sirius sighed but ignored James and walked straight towards the big wooden doors. "Padfoot don't go in yet," James said.

"I'll do what I want," Sirius replied angrily without stopping.

"Will you just WAIT?" James yelled and jumped to his feet.

Sirius stopped and turned around. The two of boys stood across from each other – Sirius, who was slightly taller than James, looked down into his eyes, grey meeting hazel. "I just want to see if my teammate is okay," Sirius spoke quietly. "After that, I'll leave you two alone."

"You can't be serious? I am not dating Reilly – I never did!" Sirius looked away dismissingly, pretending not to be interested. "Sirius…" James continued. "I can't believe you'd rather listen to a school rumour rather than your best mate."

"I saw you with her though."

"When?"

"On Tuesday… before Quidditch practice. You both seemed to be having the time of your life." Sirius sighed and let himself slide down the wall and sit on the stone floor.

James sighed as well and took a seat next to him. There was a long silence between them before James spoke softly, "I never said this to anyone… I guess because I was a bit embarrassed, but I just couldn't take it anymore." Sirius looked at James with a quizzical expression. "I approached Reilly Tuesday afternoon, asking her if she would come to practice early that evening, so we had a chance to talk before the rest of you joined us. I wanted… well I wanted to ask her if she thought I would ever have a chance with Evans. I've been asking her out for ages and was always rejected, so I figured I needed some inside information, so to speak."

A new silence hung over them. "And?" Sirius asked. "What did she say?"

"She thinks I do," James said with a smile. "We talked for a long time about everything. You're right, we did have fun together. However, I see her as nothing more than a friend. I left the Quidditch pitch fully determined to talk to Evans that evening, but before I even reached the Great Hall, Reilly and I were an 'item'."

"You should have come up with that a long time ago, Prongs," Sirius said. He knew, when James laughed, that he understood that was his way of apologizing for what had happened.

"Probably. We'll see if it works. I'm planning on asking her to go on a date with me in Hogsmeade next week.

"Good luck." The two of them sat in a third silence, but this time it wasn't awkward. "Why can't I go in though?"

James smirked and replied, "Evans is in there. I have a feeling they are having a similar conversation to what we just had."

"Do you think she's mad at me?"

"Probably," James said and bit his bottom lip. "She'll most likely be ignoring you for the next months before graduation and possible quit the Quidditch team just to avoid seeing your big head."

"That's not funny!"

"Relax!" James said and showed the grin he had been struggling to hide during the last speech. "I'm sure she'll let you talk to her, which you should do soon before you've missed your chance… again!" Sirius opened his mouth but James cut him off quickly before any words came out, "And don't try to tell me you're not interested! I'm sure Wormtail and Moony will back me up on this. We're sick of hearing you talk about Roberts twenty four/seven, so please… talk to her!"

"Fine," Sirius sighed. "You talk about Evans all the time, you know!"

"I know," James grinned. "Which is why I'll speak to her as soon as she comes out of the hospital wing."

-----------------

Sirius adjusted himself so he was sitting in a more comfortable position. "Unfortunately Reilly had just been given a sleeping potion just before Lily had left the room. She came out with a smile on her face that only grew bigger once she saw James. I quickly hurried back to the common room to give them time to talk. Reilly was out of the hospital wing the next day, but quickly returned to the homework she had missed, so I didn't get a chance to talk to her before the Hogsmeade trip."

No one spoke after this. "Then what?" Ginny asked.

"Well I told you yesterday…" Sirius said a little confused.

"I know – but then what?"

"Well we dated."

"There must be more to the story."

"Fine," Sirius said. "All right, I promise to tell the full story, but can we continue tomorrow? This seems like a good place to stop." Before anyone could answer he stood up and walked out of the room. "Good, glad we agree!"

Remus smiled a little and silently agreed with Sirius.

A/N: DONE! You have no idea how many times I've read this, written a paragraph or two, taken a break and redoing the routine. But there it is. I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

Remus Lupin woke up with a nauseous feeling early that morning. The sun had not yet risen but he decided to get up nonetheless. He took the robes from the day before off the chair where he had hung them for the night and pulled it them on. He ran a hand through his hair, opened the door and crept down the stairs, so he wouldn't wake up everyone else in the big house. The air on the ground floor left goose bumps on his pale skin, so he quickly started the fire in the living room with a flick of his wand. The warmth from the flames slowly spread across the room. Remus entered the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea.

He enjoyed mornings like this, where he could be alone with his thoughts. He looked out the dirty window and saw a tree bend in the wind and the sun slowly rising, leaving a mix of colours across the morning sky. Today looked like it was going to be cloudy but dry.

A few hours later the house slowly woke and everyone came down to the kitchen to have breakfast. Mrs. Weasley prepared toast and pumpkin juice as Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mr. Weasley all walked in and sat down at the table. "Typical of Fred and George to sleep this late," Mrs. Weasley complained.

"Let them sleep, my dear," Mr. Weasley said with a smile. "At least then we know they are not up to trouble."

"Alright, alright," Mrs. Weasley put marmalade and cheese on the table. "I must say Sirius you've very much intrigued the children with your story."

"Obsessed is more like it," Sirius said. "Of course I've only told the good parts so far."

"Story?" Mr. Weasley asked. "What story?"

Hermione put down her glass of pumpkin juice and said. "We are not obsessed, Sirius – it's just really interesting to hear about your youth. Even the small stories about your time at Hogwarts matters." She turned to Mr. Weasley. "Sirius has been telling us about Reilly Roberts."

"Oh, a very nice girl – terrible what happened to her and her family though."

"You knew her?"

"Of course. I was there when they told me her grandfather died."

Remus looked up suddenly with a stunned expression on his face. He looked across the table and noticed Sirius looked just as surprised. "You were there?" Sirius finally managed to ask. "What happened that day?"

---------

The big brown doors opened and a young Arthur Weasley entered the Auror Headquaters at the Ministry of Magic. He hurried along the busy corridor before finally entering a small office. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room. An empty wooden desk stood in the middle of the room. To the right of it was a fireplace. Green flames were slowly dying out, so he reckoned the people in front of him had only just arrived. A young girl of sixteen or seventeen years stood nearest the small window. Her brown curls fell across her face as she stared at the floor. Albus Dumbledore stood next to the fireplace and looked towards the Head of Aurors, Henry Williamson.

"Ah good," Williamson said as he noticed Arthur, "in a matter like this we always ask representatives from the Department of Magical Law Enforcements to be present. Amelia Bones was busy with other matters, so she sent her assistant Arthur Weasley. He is very much interested in muggles but has only been at the ministry for a few years." Arthur smiled.

"Can we get to the point, please?" A tall man not much younger than Arthur spoke up, he had not noticed him before now.

Dumbledore took a step away from the fireplace and let out a small sigh. "I'm very sorry to bring you here so shortly after the news of your grandfather's death, but I'm afraid certain matters need to be discussed."

The girl by the window looked up. She looked sad and pale, yet no tears were visible in her eyes. "Please tell us what happened first."

Arthur took out the piece of parchment and quill he had brought with him and looked from Dumbledore to Williamson, waiting for one of them to speak up. The latter was the one to talk and Arthur carefully wrote down every word. "Your grandfather was out in the field this week. Several disturbances have occurred in South Wales and Paul was assigned to take a look at it. His partner brought him back late last night. He was not in a good state and was immediately brought to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The healers did everything they could, but had to give up early this morning. His partner has no idea, who did it. All he was able to see was someone moving very fast, wearing a mask and a black cloak. It's not much to go on, but we're doing everything we can to track him down."

Arthur looked up and noticed the young man had walked over to the teenage girl and placed an arm around her shoulders. The girl's blue eyes showed signs of tears, but none fell.

"First of all, this now leaves Reilly without a guardian," Dumbledore said.

"I come off age in two months," The girl said.

"By law you will need one for those two months, nonetheless."

"I'll be her guardian," The tall man said. Arthur looked at him and suddenly noticed the similarity between the man and the girl: the same blue eyes, small freckles across the nose and brown hair.

Dumbledore hesitated but finally spoke up, "Very well William, you shall be the guardian of your sister till the 23rd of December this year." He pushed his small glasses back. "Family matters – especially in times like these. Secondly, you grandfather left a will that we would like to read to you. Arthur?"

Arthur looked up from his quill. "Oh right, I brought the relevant piece" he said and pulled out a piece of parchment with another's handwriting on it. "There we go: _I, Paul Graham Whittaker Roberts II hereby declare this to be my last will and testament. (…) If my death has occurred before my youngest grandchild comes off age, the key to my box at Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley shall go to my eldest grandchild Paul William Cope Roberts IV. The deed to my house shall also be his. _

_My dear, old friend from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Minerva McGonagall, is in the possession of another Gringotts Bank key that shall be given to Reilly Cope Roberts on the day of her 17__th__ birthday, the 23__rd__ December 1977. Finally, as a thank you for this gesture and long friendship, I leave my beloved mother's pearl necklace for Minerva McGonagall."_

"Thank you, Arthur," Dumbledore said with a smile. He took out a gold key and a very old piece of parchment and handed it to William. "With my deepest condolences." William accepted it without replying. He glanced at his sister and took her hand in his. "Reilly, you are of course excused from classes the next few days."

"I would like to attend school as normal," Reilly said quickly. "I don't want to fall behind."

"Of course the teachers understand that this is a hard time for you," Dumbledore insisted. "I'm sure they'll help you get back on track when you are ready."

"That won't be necessary professor. I'm will be ready tomorrow morning."

Arthur had done what he had to. He took one last look Reilly and William, wondering if he would meet either of them again. "I'm sorry for your loss," he finally said. "Goodbye for now. Professor, Williamson," he nodded towards the two wizards before turning and walking out the door, heading back towards the department of Magical Law Enforcement.

-----------

"I assume she travelled back to Hogwarts with Dumbledore after that," Arthur concluded the story.

"So sad," Hermione said in a sigh.

"She didn't come back after that," Sirius spoke up.

-----------

The teenage Sirius paced back and forth in front of the small desk. "Padfoot!" A young Remus whispered frustrated. "I can't get a word of this Herbology essay written down with you being so restless and sighing every two seconds. Would you please just sit down?"

"Reilly left class this morning, Remus," Sirius said loudly. "10 hours ago! She even missed Quidditch practice!"

"Shhh!" an angry voice called out from behind a big shelf of books.

"I know, I was there," Remus whispered. "Please remember this is a library, so keep you voice down." Sirius let out yet another sigh and let himself fall into a chair next to Remus. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Yeah…" Sirius replied lost in his own thoughts.

Remus looked down at his essay but quickly looked at Sirius again. "It's really good, you know, the way you care about Reilly. You've never acted this way with a girl before."

"I've never felt this way about a girl before." He stood up again. "I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'll go back to common room."

The common room was almost full when Sirius got back. Students of all ages were sitting around the fireplace or at tables doing homework, talking or playing wizard's chess. He found his best friend sitting at one of the tables playing with his girlfriend's red hair, while she was reading a book. "Evans!" he called out and walked over there.

"Isn't it about time you two start addressing each other by first name?" James Potter asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Fine. Lily, have you seen Reilly since this morning?"

"I'm sorry," Lily said. "She got back about half an hour ago. All she said was that she was really tired and before I could say anything she was already on her way up the stairs. Maya tried following her, but she didn't want to talk."

Sirius went to bed early that night but didn't sleep much.

He woke up early and was almost the first person at breakfast. He stayed and left as the last Gryffindor student without having seen either Lily or Reilly in the Great Hall that morning. With a sigh he picked up his backpack and walked back to the common room. He figured he might as well use the free period on his Herbology essay, knowing Reilly would be in Arithmancy class.

Two hours later, he rolled the parchment together and put it in his bag. He knew it wasn't his best work, but at least he would be handing it in on time. He stood up and walked out of the portrait hole.

On the ground floor he caught a glance of Reilly and quickly hurried after her. "REILLY!" he called out. By the third time he called out her name she stopped and turned around.

He hurried up to her. She wouldn't meet his eyes but he could tell they looked very tired. Her face was whiter than usual and the mind blowing smile she normally greeted him with was no where on her lips. "Hey," he said softly. He reached out and stroke her arm slowly. "I missed you at breakfast this morning."

"I wasn't really hungry," she said slowly, her voice lower than usual.

"Okay," Sirius said. "Will you -"

He was suddenly interrupted when the corridor was filled with students hurrying in both directions to get to their classes on time. "Sorry Sirius," Reilly said. "I have to see professor Slughorn about something. We'll talk later." She took a step closer to him, hesitated a second, kissed him on the cheek and hurried towards the dungeons.

"She's breaking up with me," Sirius sighed and collapsed on his bed. For once he was alone with James in the fourteen-bed dormitory. "I just know it."

"You're so dramatic, Padfoot," James said and examined the map he had in his hand. It was the Marauders map that he, Sirius, Remus and Peter had made 2 years earlier. It showed everyone at Hogwarts and their exact location at that moment.

Sirius rolled over on his stomach and faced James. "Am I?" he asked. "I told you how she avoided me this morning, didn't show up for lunch or dinner, McGonagall split us up in Transfiguration and she spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, where Madam Pince keeps three eyes on me ever since the water balloon-incident last week and I might have spoken a bit too loud there yesterday when I was speaking to Moony."

James let out a laugh. "The water balloon – that was classic!"

"Mate, you're killing me here! Lily must have told you something."

"I'm sorry, Padfoot, either she hasn't uttered a word or Lily is sworn to secrecy."

Sirius narrowed his eyes slightly. "You spent most of the day with Lily – except for when you sleep, have Quidditch practice or on rare occasions like this, where you only have time to talk because she has to speak to professor Flitwick - so she must have told you something"

"Don't make this about me and Lily just because your relationship is falling apart," James pulled out his wand to threaten Sirius. When Sirius apologised and let his head fall on his pillow, James lowered it again. "Look, you're my best friend, if I knew anything about it, I would let you know."

"Thanks I guess. So you really think she's gonna break up with me?"

"I have no idea honestly. However, I want you to stop act so anti-Sirius Black and do something about it! Here," he threw the Marauders map to Sirius, "find her and talk to her."

The Marauders map lay open in front of him and showed every one in the castle. He scanned it floor by floor until he finally spotted Reilly in the common room. She was sitting by the fire talking to Lily. He looked up and noticed James was already at the door. He flashed a grin before walking out – he must have already seen her come back before giving the map to Sirius.

Sirius turned his attention back to the map. His grey eyes watched as James and Lily met. Reilly had now moved to the portrait hole where she waited a minute before walking out. 'Sneaking out' was probably the right term to use. All students would have to be in their common room or dormitory in fifteen minutes. He kept an eye on her as she walked down a corridor, turned left and entered the Owlery. When he was sure she wouldn't move, he pulled out his wand and pointed at the map, murmuring, "mischief managed", before hurrying out the door.

He followed the corridor, turned left and entered the Owlery just as Reilly had. He found her on a bench by one of the great windows petting a small, white owl. Sounds of sobbing spread across the room and it didn't take him long to realize Reilly was the one crying. Before he could help himself he walked over to her.

It obviously came as a shock because she quickly stood up and turned away from him. Even with her back turned on him, he could see her desperately trying to wipe her eyes.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked eventually.

She took a deep breath and answered without turning around, "I guess not."

He waited for her to continue but she didn't. Sirius suddenly realised that he had never been in a situation like this. "Reilly… you're gonna have to talk to me because I've no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"I don't think there's a protocol for this situation," she slowly turned around. Slowly, she tilted her head backwards and finally met his eyes. A wisp of her hair was stuck near her right eye, which sparkled with tears. Two thin lines created by her salty tears were visible down each cheek. Sirius reached out and took the hair away and placed it softly behind her ear. She took a deep breath and spoke again, "My grandfather…died yesterday. That's why I was pulled out of class. Dumbledore took me to the ministry to see some people I don't know and my brother." As she spoke more tears started forming in her eyes and she made no attempt of hiding them this time.

Sirius took a step towards her. He wanted nothing more than to hold her and tell her everything was going to be alright. "Wait a minute," She took a step back, away from him. "Just let me tell you everything before you do or say anything." He swallowed hard fearing what was coming next. "My parents died when I was about a year old and I was raised by my grandfather and my brother. They taught me everything. William is now my guardian for the next two months, since he is my only living relative. I'm not sure what's going to happen, or -"

He didn't let her finish. He couldn't bear seeing her cry so much without him doing everything he could to prevent it. Before she could finish the sentence he had closed the gap between them and was now squeezing her tight against him. He felt her give in and cry against his shoulder as he slowly stroked her hair.

Time passed but Sirius wasn't sure how much. He held her close until he could feel her sobs slowly die down. He then took her hand and led her back to the bench she had been sitting on earlier. He looked into her sad yet grateful eyes and suddenly felt like he could look deeper into them than earlier. He wiped away the last tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. "I must look like a mess," Reilly said with a broken voice.

"No," Sirius said honestly. He squeezed her hands once. "You know… I was pretty sure you were going to break up with me tonight."

She seemed to think about it for a while before saying, "I guess I can see why you might have thought that. I'm sorry."

"You should have told me."

"I know." She paused once again. "I guess… telling you would mean it actually happened. Well that's the story I'm sticking too anyway." A small smile appeared for the first time in a long time.

"I want you to know that you can tell me anything," Sirius said.

She nodded. "I should probably have realized that sooner." Their eyes met again and no one said anything for a while. "William and I had a chance to sit down and talk today. We haven't talked like that since… well since he was at Hogwarts six years ago. I guess he got a bit preoccupied with his work in Diagon Alley after that. He promised that would change now. That's why I didn't get back before last night." It all made much more sense now. "I also realized something else. I want to start Healer training after we finish at Hogwarts. I want to be able to make a difference and save people like my grandfather so their family won't have to go through the same pain."

"I think you would make a great Healer, Ray," Sirius said with a smile, "Plus people might come to you with problems like hiccupping flowers or other spells gone badly. Actually remind me to tell James about that – I think that could be possible to pull off. And think of all the wicked potions you'll learn how to make."

Reilly laughed and leaned closer to him. "Thank you for making me smile," she said and kissed him on the lips. Sirius put his hand around her back and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss.

"You're welcome," he said when they pulled apart. "I wasn't joking about the hiccupping flowers you know."

"I know," Reilly laughed and kissed him again.

------------

"I wasn't that bad as a teenager," Sirius said flashing Remus a grin. Remus smiled back at his friend and shook his head.

"Did she become a Healer then?" Harry asked finishing the final piece of toast on his plate.

"She did," Sirius said. He smiled and Remus once again. "Quite lucky she did, eh Moony?" He turned his head and answered the six puzzled faces staring back at him, "She saved him while working at the hospital."

"I just came in with a small bite from a cockatrice!" Remus defended himself. Sirius laughed at the memory.

A/N: Done, done, done. I just sat down on a normal Wednesday and wrote all of this in one day! Man, I haven't done that in ages. I hope you like this as well!


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the morning was spent with chores. Mrs. Weasley had no intention of letting the teenagers slack off during their holidays. As soon as everyone had finished their breakfast, she had ordered the plates to clean themselves by saying a simple spell before rushing up the stairs to wake up Fred and George Weasley. Before she came back downstairs to order Harry and Ron to clean up the attic, Remus had hurried out the door.

Remus did not return to the house before an hour after lunch. Sirius came down from the first floor just as Remus entered the house. "You're not leaving me behind in dire times, are you Remus?"

"Are you talking about continuing the story about Reilly or Molly's chores?" Remus asked with raised eyebrows.

Sirius seemed to think about it for a second before replying, "The second one."

"In that case yes."

"You owe me, Moony," Sirius said and put an arm around his old friend's thin shoulders. "You get to continue the story then." Sirius led him into the sitting room, where they found Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all sitting on the floor. Ginny and Hermione were both reading the Daily Prophet, while Harry and Ron were busy playing wizard's chess. It didn't take long, though, before Ron had crushed Harry's king. The red haired boy leaned back against the couch, folded his hands behind his head and smiled satisfied.

Hermione and Ginny noticed Remus and Sirius entering and quickly forgot all about the magazine. "Fine," Remus said. "Where were we?"

"2 months before Reilly's birthday," Hermione answered.

"Right," Remus said. "Since I'm in charge of the story now, I'm going to skip ahead a few months. All that really happened from November –May were Sirius and Reilly fighting and making up." Sirius opened his mouth to object but Remus came ahead of him, "be quiet, dear friend. You told me it was my turn… besides, you know it's the truth." Sirius closed his mouth again and scowled at Remus, making Ron laugh.

A younger version of Remus Lupin took off his graduation cap and loosened his tie slightly. He bumped into several people as he tried to get out of the Great Hall. A band had started playing, officially starting the graduation party that had been arranged for all seventh year students. He felt someone follow him but didn't bother turning around to see who it was. He didn't stop before he was out in the great Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. With a sigh he made his way over to the big stair case and sat down.

"These robes are so hot," a familiar, squeaky voice said. Remus looked up and noticed his friends Peter and Sirius were the ones, who had followed him.

"Please don't undress here," Sirius teased. "Besides, I'm pretty sure a certain Cathy Hayes was giving you the eye earlier." Peter looked at him in disbelief. "I'm serious, Wormtail! Your happiness means the world to me, so I would not lie."

The doors to the Great Hall had opened again and two girls came out. They were both wearing a red and gold dress under their graduation robes. One girl had her blonde hair tied behind head and the other's brown curls were hanging loosely on her shoulders. "Stop," Reilly said softly and wrapped her arms around Sirius' waist.

"However," the blonde girl said with a smile and rested her arm on Peter's shoulder. "For once in seven years Mr. Black is actually right. Mary McDonald told me that Eliza Miller was told by Karen Sawyer that she overheard Hayes in the girl's bathroom telling Elizabeth McKenzie that she is thinks you are very sweet, Peter."

"That doesn't really sound like a reliable source, Maya" Peter said unconvinced.

"Which is why I checked it out for you," Reilly said. "As I was questioning Elizabeth McKenzie in Potions yesterday, when Cathy overheard everything and confronted me at breakfast this morning. She confirmed our little theory, but she seems shy."

Peter stared at her. "You did that?"

"Don't underestimate us," Maya said proudly. "It's our last night at school, Pete, so I honestly have no idea why you are still standing around and talking to a bunch nobodies… and Ray and I." Reilly did her best to hold back a laugh. Remus shook his head with a smile wondering if he would ever understand Maya's humour.

Peter nodded slowly before hurrying back into the Great Hall.

"So have you cooked up something for me as well?" Sirius asked with a grin.

Maya took a seat next to Remus. "Sorry Sirius, we did all we could but you're just not handsome enough. Reilly may have a bit of pity left, but between you and me," Maya's voice turned to a loud whisper, "I think she's running low after 8 months." She turned her head and smiled at Remus. "Lupin here has _so_ much potential though."

"You just _had_ to include that!" Sirius said angrily as Harry and Ron both laughed. Hermione and Ginny did their best not to laugh as well.

Remus smiled and said, "It's an important part of the story! Stop interrupting me, the best part is coming up."

"Whatever," Sirius said and ran a hand through his dark hair.

Reilly let out a giggle and gave Sirius a quick kiss on the lips. "She's kidding, silly." She turned to Remus and Maya and changed the subject, "Our last night at Hogwarts, huh? I just can't get used to the thought."

"Me neither," Remus agreed and looked around. "It will be strange not to return this autumn." 

"Depressing thought," Maya said. "We should talk more about all the fun that is to come. What are your plans?"

Remus shrugged, he still hadn't decided what to do with his life after Hogwarts. The thought worried him and some times kept him up at night, but he had decided not to think too much about it for now. He would find something, he was sure of it. If not, then he could always do some travelling. "Well," Reilly said slowly. She looked slightly nervous and glanced at Sirius before continuing. "I applied for healer training a month ago." Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise. Not even he had heard this news. "I got my acceptance letter today – I start in October."

Sirius picked her up by the waist, held her tight and spun around. "That's amazing, Ray!" He grinned. He put her down and kissed her on the lips. "Congratulations."

"Congratulations," both Remus and Maya said with a smile. Reilly beamed at all of them.

"Since we are sharing news," Sirius said. He looked into Reilly's eyes and continued, "I inherited some money from my uncle – yes, it came as a surprise to me too," he said when Remus raised his eyebrows in shock, "so I put a deposit down on a little house on the country side."

Before anyone could say anything, the great wooden entrance doors opened and a grinning redhead walked in hand in hand with a tall boy with glasses. "Hey guys," James Potter said with a smile and led his girlfriend over to the crowd. "What are you doing?"

"We were sharing plans for the future," Sirius said with a grin. "I just told them about Sirius-Ville."

"You bought a house, not a village, Padfoot," Remus pointed out.

Maya laughed but couldn't take her eyes off Lily, who came in with James. "Geez, Lils either you stole a Felix potion from Slughorn or James just -"

"NO WAY!" Reilly and Maya cried at the same time and stared with open mouths at Lily.

"What?" Remus asked as Lily slowly nodded, tears forming in her eyes and her smile grew wider.

Both Reilly and Maya screamed with joy and hugged their friend.

"What?" Sirius joined in on the confusion. James shrugged and smiled knowingly while laughing at the three girls who laughed, screamed and hugged each other, while communicating in a language none of the guys could understand.

"Let's see it!" Maya said with a smile and tugged on Lily's arm. She extended her hand and a gold ring with a small diamond sparkled on her ring finger. Tears started forming in her eyes as Maya and Reilly adored it.

"NO WAY!" Sirius and Remus cried in parody of the girls and attacked James with a hug. They both laughed and padded their friend on the back. "I can't believe your best friend wasn't told about this," Sirius said when the laughter died down.

"I didn't want to say anything in case she declined – you would have made a mockery of me forever," James replied.

"Moi?" Sirius said innocently. "no, no, no never."

"I wouldn't dream of declining," Lily said with a smile. She let herself loose of Reilly and Maya and walked over and kissed James on the lips. "We have to tell Peter." The two of them looked around, but before they could say anything Reilly and Maya were hurrying towards the Great Hall. Sirius and Remus quickly followed.

Inside the Great Hall the four graduates looked around the brightly decorated Hall. A lot of couples were dancing and singing along with the band, whose sound filled the entire room. Even professor Flitwick had found his way to the dance floor. At a table not far from the door were Peter and Cathy Hayes lip-locking and not paying attention to anyone around them.

"Nice!" James grinned and high-fived Sirius. Lily and Reilly rolled their eyes but smiled widely. "Looks like another couple could be moving in with us in that house of yours, Padfoot."

Sirius opened his mouth but Lily was ahead of him, "We are not moving in with Sirius."

Again Sirius opened his mouth but this time James was spoke up before he could say anything, "You're right, babe. I would never do that to you."

"Remind me never to let you start the story again!" Sirius said angrily, while Ron and Harry once again roared with laughter once again. "You could have cut it off a lot sooner."

"Sorry," Remus said with a grin, "Sometimes memories just carry you away." He straightened himself up and stared into the fire. "Well we left school after that and went separate ways for a while. Sirius and James joined a course in Auror training, I decided to take a tour of the country, Lily got a job in Flourish and Blotts, Peter changed jobs in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade quite often, and Reilly started her Healer training."

Remus glanced at Sirius wondering if he would continue the story or not. "Every relationship would suffer through something like that," Sirius said. "My parents died about 6 months later and shortly after, the Order of the Phoenix was established. Remus, James, Lily and I all joined and signed up for a number of short and long missions, while Reilly continued her Healer training. Because of it, we spent quite a lot of time apart. Whenever we were finally together… we would fight a lot."

"But you were so good together!" Hermione said.

Sirius smiled slightly, "I like to think so."

"It's my job!" Sirius said loudly and walked across the kitchen and took a seat at the dinning table in Reilly's flat.

"You're not getting paid!" Reilly yelled back. "I understand something bad is going on and you're trying to prevent it, but I don't get why you have to be away so long."

"I came here last Thursday and you weren't here."

"The first time in a month, Sirius! I had my first shift at St. Mungo's that day."

"And I happen to have an important trip that month – just as important as your first shift."

Reilly sighed, leaned against the kitchen table, and rubbed her head with her hands. "That's not my point."

Sirius stood up and yelled, "I don't understand what you want from me!"

Silence hung in the air for a short while before Reilly whispered, "I think you should leave."

"Ray…"

She shook her head. "Don't. Just leave."

He was shocked. He had never been in a situation like this before. Reilly turned and stared out of the window while rubbing her eye with one hand. His body ached to put his arms around her and let her know how much he truly cared for her. His mind and selfishness, however, made him turn around and walk out the door. Once he was outside he turned and looked up to the window, where she had been standing a few seconds earlier. She was already gone. He turned left and started walking. He had no idea where or how long he walked – he just kept on going.

It was dark when he finally came home. He threw himself on the couch and closed his eyes. He slept, but not well at all. He woke up five hours later with an aching back. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was four o'clock at night. He sighed, got up, and walked into the kitchen. He found a piece of bread, but couldn't finish it after the first two bites.

He buried himself in work the rest of the week. When he couldn't study anymore, he found work with the ministry or the Order. Frank Longbottom confronted him the following Monday to show his concern, but Sirius assured him everything was fine and carried on working. James, Remus and Peter sat him down after two weeks and said the same things, but none of this worked either.

Three weeks later Sirius found himself exhausted. As usual he came home late and immediately fell asleep. The familiar nightmares came back to haunt him and forced him to wake up only a few hours later. A long shower and a few fire whiskeys later Sirius was on his way out yet again. When he opened the door two women were waiting for him outside.

"Just a second, Workaholic," Maya Cunningham said and pushed Sirius back inside. "We want a word with you."

Lily Evans followed the two of them inside. "What is that smell?" she asked and immediately drew back the curtains and opened a window. "It's like something died in here."

"Look, I know why you're here," Sirius said furiously. "I told the guys already that everything is fine!"

"Don't snap at us – we didn't break up with you." Maya yelled back.

For the first time in three weeks Sirius was lost for words. He let himself drop into a blue armchair and buried his face in his hands.

Lily sat down on the arm of the chair and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "I'm sorry Sirius," she said softly. "James was really worried and asked me to stop by to check on you. I told Maya about it and she wanted to come as well." Sirius looked up but remained silent. He did his best to avoid Lily's worried look. "You're obviously troubled, so it might be good for you to talk to someone."

He remained silent. Maya took a seat on the other arm of the chair. "Ray kept her place clean," she said. Sirius had a feeling she knew it would tick him off.

Sirius jumped out of the chair and walked over to the window Lily had just opened. He reached out to closed it, but regretted just before reaching it. He sighed and looked down. "Have you seen her?"

"Who?" Maya asked stupidly.

Sirius sighed again and turned angrily. "Reilly."

Maya smiled satisfied and Lily took over. "Yes," Lily said. "She's quite devoted to her studies. She's working full time at St. Mungo's and doing really well." Sirius nodded slowly and turned back to the window again. Two children ran across a field in the horizon, but apart from that everything was quiet outside. "Sirius, she's miserable." He spun around quickly this time and stared at Lily wide-eyed. "She's been my best friend for years but I have never seen her as sad as this. You know Reilly she won't shed a tear or let anyone know about her troubles. She has only ever confided in you and her nearest family. Now that I've seen how you are doing, I'm convinced that the two of you must talk soon."

He thought about it for a while. "She threw me out. If she has anything to say to me, my door is open."

"Bloody hell," Maya said angrily. "You two are the most stubborn people I have ever met! We're not telling you to get back together, but if that's not the solution then you have to talk and end it properly!"

"Like I said," Sirius said unmoved. "She can come to me."

"Don't make me hurt you."

"What?"

"Go to her or I will have to hurt you enough to be admitted to St. Mungo's and then you can talk. Save me the guilt please."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't Maya."

"Oh yeah?" Maya drew her wand. Lily took a step back, which made Sirius nervous.

"Fine," Sirius said quietly. "Can I go now?"

"That Maya sounds a bit scary," Hermione said when Sirius paused the story.

"She was brilliant," Remus said. "We had all tried at that point but notice how she was the only one, who actually got through to Sirius. Lily was very sweet but I doubt she would ever have made him walk out the door." He stopped and wondered if Sirius disagreed. He didn't, he knew Remus was right. "It's very brave to stand up to your friends like that."

Sirius ran a hand nervously through his hair as he hurried down across London Bridge. He didn't care if people were staring at him, his goal would soon be right in front of him: St. Mungo's Hospital.

A few minutes later he found himself in a great lobby. Wizards in lime green robes were hurrying up and down the different corridors. Patients from near and far came in with a lot of different injuries. A young boy with a hand twice it's normal size hurried past him. Sirius gathered himself and walked up to the reception asking for Reilly Roberts.

The receptionist adjusted her glasses and looked Sirius up and down. "Sorry," she said in a squeaky voice. "Unless you're family I can't give out that kind of information."

"Listen lady," Sirius said angrily. He suddenly realized this probably wasn't the correct way to approach this if he wanted her to help him. "Sorry, I mean… I have something very important to tell her." He receptionist stood unmoved. "You see… I'm sure she is the love of my life and I simply don't function without her. I've made a huge mistake and I need to tell her that. Will you please tell me where she is?"

The receptionist seemed to think about it for a while and finally said, "No. Next!"

Sirius shoulders sank as he stepped out of the queue and let the people behind him get to the reception. "Excuse me," a male voice said behind him. "Did you say you were looking for Reilly Roberts?" Sirius spun around quickly and saw a tall, dark haired young man in front of him. He nodded slowly. The young man seemed to look him up and down the same way the receptionist had. "I'm William Roberts."

"Reilly's brother," Sirius said recognizing the name. William nodded. "Sirius Black," Sirius said and extended his hand for William to shake.

"Yeah I figured," William said without shaking his hand. "I just talked to Reilly. She seems quite upset."

"Where is she?"

William hesitated again. "I shouldn't tell you." Whatever little hope was left in Sirius seemed to vanish immediately after that. "However, if what you just said to the receptionist is true, then I guess you deserve a chance."

"Thank you," Sirius said honestly.

"I'm doing this for Reilly though, so you better not mess this up!" Sirius shook his head. "She's on the fourth floor, ward two."

Sirius thanked him again and headed for the elevator. He made it just in time as it was going up. It seemed like the longest elevator ride ever as it passed level two and three. Finally a small bell rang and the doors opened to level four. Sirius stepped out and took a look around. Several witches and wizards in lime green robes were hurrying up and down the corridor, just like in the reception. Shouts for potions and lights from spells filled the atmosphere. "Excuse me!" A small old wizard said and pushed past Sirius.

Sirius followed the little wizard and soon spotted the number '2' on one of the doors. He was just about to enter when the door opened and a familiar curly haired girl opened it and bumped into him. She took a step back and realized who was standing in front of her. She turned her head but didn't move or say anything.

"Hey," Sirius said quietly. He didn't wait for her to answer because he was quite certain she wouldn't say anything. "I met your brother downstairs – he told where you were." Again she didn't say anything. "I had a visit from Lily and Maya this morning and I guess… they finally managed to knock some sense into me." He waited for her to say something this time, but not a sound escaped her lips. "I don't function without you, Reilly. I've been burying myself in work for weeks to avoid confrontation with you and the nightmares that haunt me at night." He paused before continuing, "I love you… and I hope there's something I can do to win you back. Anything."

She looked up and met his eyes. They were wet and sparkling but not a tear fell. "Lily and Maya did that?" she asked.

Sirius smiled, "Yeah. Maya can be quite intimidating when she wants to."

Reilly nodded as well and smiled. She took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. Sirius did the same and squeezed her close. "You're an idiot," she whispered into his chest. "But I've missed you so much."

Sirius laughed, pulled back slightly, leaned down and kissed her on the lips. As she kissed him back he felt a recognizable happiness bubble in his stomach. He felt renewed with energy and could stay like this forever if the world would allow it.

A tall witch in similar lime green robes as Reilly's came up to them and asked for Reilly to return to the ward to help her. "Go," Sirius said and kissed her forehead. "I'll be waiting for you when you get home."

Reilly smiled and opened the door again. Before walking through it she turned and said, "Hey idiot – I love you." She smiled widely, which Sirius returned happily.

A/N; Done done done. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming . Chapter 5/6 coming soon.


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